Model Horse Telephone

       Did you ever play telephone when you were a kid? Everyone gets in a line and the first person says something to the next person, who passes it on and so on and so on, until you get to the other end of the line. Usually, the message is not the same as what it started out to be. As a hobby, and as human beings, the message we start out with is often different at the end of the line. 

      Today, I want to clear some things up, if that’s even possible. The other day I did a blog post about my concerns with an interpretation of a rule from NAMHSA and an upsetting email I received. I am a rule follower, so to even inadvertently be accused of wrongdoing does in fact upset me. I honestly don’t know of anyone who gets accused of doing something they didn’t do and is happy about it.

     I never said that the email was purposely written to sound condescending. I did say, in response to a comment on Facebook, that perhaps the tone was meant to sound professional. No matter the intent, it didn’t come off that way.

      I was flat out accused on Facebook of “chopping up” an email to make NAMHSA and the volunteers look bad. I didn’t post the entire email because I was never going to say WHO sent me the email, among other reasons. I said it was from NAMHSA because it was. I didn’t know until later that it was a singular member writing it (the use of “we” made it sound collective). I’d like to point out that as a judge, I am also a volunteer, and even an inadvertent accusation of me doing things against the rules could absolutely make me look bad. Though that still was not actually the point of my post. 

     Yesterday, I received a public apology from NAMSHA about the way I was treated. I was never looking for an apology, though I appreciate it because it was an acknowledgment that no matter the original intent of the email, it came off as accusatory (that was in the apology I received). I was asking a legitimate question about Breyerfest Live, since I have never taken part in that show and I had never heard the rule that I couldn’t judge an entry with anything I made. I had concerns. I have made a LOT of things for the hobby, including thousands of dolls. If the showers knew ahead of time that they couldn’t use something I made, they would need to leave it off, which is still not as easily remedied as that. But then what if they didn’t know I made something? Does that mean I have to DQ the entry? I still don’t know the answer to that, though I do know NAMHSA is working to iron out the rule and make it clear for everyone. 

    In the game of model horse telephone things got switched, left out, and snap judgments were made. There were people, who didn’t read the post, but heard about what was going on, and assumed that “someone” (I’m someone) was upset because my props didn’t do as well as other props. That has NOTHING to do with the issue. I really want to stick to the issue.

     Model horse performance classes are unlike any other type of classes we have at model horse shows. They are not like, and cannot, be judged like a halter class. I have been asked, quite a lot (and more lately) how I judge a performance class. I have said I start with checking is the entry safe. I move on to is it correct. Then I go on and see if it’s interesting. A shorter answer is I judge the picture as a whole, using the criteria I just stated. I don’t care who made what in the setup, I care if the elements used were used correctly. The more elements you have, the more opportunity for an interesting setup but also more opportunities to mess things up. 

     I understand the intent of the rule is to try to squash the ideas of biased judging in the hobby. But the amount of people that actually believe there is this widespread bias is a relatively small group of people. A sweeping rule like this, to try to placate a small group of people, doesn’t help find and retain good judges. And as it’s been said, bad judges will out themselves and not be asked to judge again. 

     Performance showing is a niche part of a niche hobby. Many performance showers judge as well as show. Many showers and judges also make things for performance. If we uphold an interpretation of the rule that says a shower cannot use anything a judge has made we are hurting our performance showers by not allowing them to use the equipment and accessories they are used to using (which may also be essential to their entry) and shrinking our already tiny judging pool. I won’t judge if it hurts my customers. Sure, I’m only one person, but I have a nearly 20 year track record of being an excellent judge. And if every creator starts to feel like I do, we will have almost no judges in no time. I am glad that NAMHSA as a whole is taking my concern, which is shared by many others, seriously and trying to figure out a solution. I hope we can have an open, respectful, and productive dialogue about the judging issue.